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Company Wars 7 Finity's End Cherryh, CJ
Baxter Clare [Detective L A F End of Watch (epub)
At Grave s End A Night Huntress Jeaniene Frost
Craig Schaefer Daniel Faust The Living End
Belgariad 05 Enchanter's End Eddings, David
Barry Friedman Dead End (epub)
At Day's End Bryl R. Tyne
Cameron Pierce The Pickled Apocalypse of Panca
Apocalypse Scenario #683 The Bo Mira Grant
Chanda Hahn [Unfortunate Fair Reign (epub)

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.For more than a year he had pulled, poked, and pounded at it in a futile attempt to get it operational.He had finally succumbed to the reality that it would never work again.The simple truth was that vital parts had burned out and there were no replacements to be found.Jim reclined in the swivel chair and glanced up at the video monitors that lined the wall in front of him.Four of the screens were dead and displayed blank screens.Two were still live.One had a clear view of downtown Moscow, a desolate place.The only movements were those of walking corpses.The other monitor was of Washington, D.C., and that scene was no better than Moscow’s.The other four screens had ceased to function, one at a time, months before.More than likely the satellites had spun out of their orbits or had simply stopped working.In any case, they were cut off from anyone who might still be alive outside of their safe haven.Dr.Sharon Darney, their resident expert on the plague, had once told him that the walking dead could remain mobile for ten years, maybe more, before decomposition made movement impossible.Two years had passed and he couldn’t wait another eight to find out if anyone else still lived.They had survived; others, too, must have survived.Jim knew it was time he stopped being as stale and stagnant as the air they were breathing in the underground complex.He needed to do something.Complacency had set in and it had become too easy to shut out the outside world and hope for the best.Surely there were survivors out there banding together to regain control of the situation.It was time now to go and find them.Amanda would be against the idea.After all the horrors they had been through, she would be content to stay right where she was and say to hell with any other survivors.As they had all learned, it was not just the well-intentioned, kind, and honest people who had survived the plague.They’d all had more than their fill of the other kind of survivors.Being cooped up in the massive hole in the ground was finally catching up to him.It was time to make a move.Surviving was not living.***Amanda sat at the corner table in the cafeteria, pushing powdered eggs around on her plate.She had forgotten what real food tasted like.She had forgotten much in the past two years-her life before the plague, old friends, and old loves.She thought it was better that way, at least for now.Dwelling on the past only brought sadness with it.When Amanda looked up, she saw Jim and motioned for him to join her.He sat down across from her in the familiar manner of old lovers.She couldn’t help but notice that his mood had not changed.Lately he had become jaded, at times distant and isolated.He would hide away in the war room for hours without so much as an appearance for food or water.She was becoming worried about him.This sullen behavior stood in such a stark contrast to the ways of the person she had fallen in love with.The caring and compassionate leader that he was only months ago had become reticent and even a bit callous.She feared not only for him, but also for herself.She loved him and now she may have been losing him.The worst part of it was, she didn’t know why.Amanda finished chewing a forkful of the bland eggs and hoped that a little small talk might coax him into a meaningful conversation with her.“Anything new?” she asked, expecting the usual answer.Jim squirmed in his seat and then replied the same as always: “No.”He fell silent, leaving Amanda to think up a new topic to keep him talking.Anything was better than another silent meal, she thought, stirring her eggs once again.“That radio’s never going to work,” she said finally.“Have you thought about looking for other survivors? There hasn’t been a creature near the complex in months.It should be fairly safe.”Jim’s eyes widened and an exhilarated look washed over his face.“Yes, I’ve thought a lot about it.Tangier Island,” he said.“I want to go to Tangier Island.”Amanda’s jaw dropped.Well, you’ve done it now, she thought.This was not the conversation she had hoped for when she began asking questions.She had opened a big can of smelly, walking-dead worms.“No, no.That’s not what I meant.Not Tangier Island, Jim, it’s too far.” How quickly he had turned this around.“It’s too dangerous and, besides, it’s been a year since you got that message.How do you even know that the person who sent it is still alive? For God’s sake…”“I don’t know.That’s the point.They never acknowledged our reply.I don’t think the radio was sending, even then.”Amanda dropped her fork with a clatter that mirrored her jangled nerves.She had suddenly lost what little appetite she’d had.Her head was spinning and now she had to win an argument with one of the most headstrong men she’d ever known.“So that’s it? You want to risk your life and what little happiness may be left to us because you’re stir crazy? Jesus, Jim, why?”“If there’s someone alive there, I have to know,” he said.“We all do.We can’t go on forever here.Eventually, we will run out of sup-plies.Tangier Island would be the ideal place.If there are survivors, there’s a good chance they’d be there, maybe even hundreds of them.We have to know.This is important.”“No, goddamn it.” Her voice quivered as she stood up [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]